The Study Abroad Series: Part Two
Arriving in your host country…
Studying abroad is a decision that takes reflection, planning and serious consideration. When the frenzy over choosing a program, planning your academic courses and having a meeting with financial aid dampens down, it is time to pack your bags and head for your semester-long adventure.
Whenever I shared that I would be spending four months in Berlin, Germany, friends and family, professors and classmates alike would express so much excitement on my behalf and reassure me that it would be the perfect place for me to experience. I deeply appreciated the support and this excitement fueled my own. January, which feels like so long ago now, was a blur. I was watching my friends arrive in their various destinations and feeling my pre-travel jitters buzz, spending time with my family before not seeing them until the summer, and trying to use the internet to piece together an idea of what Berlin might look and feel like.
Soon enough, I was embarking on my 20-hour travel day and landed in Berlin before I could catch any airplane zzz’s. As during any other transition, the first few weeks were difficult. Berlin was colder than I expected and the lack of clear skies made the limited hours of sun feel even less celebratory. I was learning again how to communicate with friends and family from home despite a nine or six-hour time difference. At the same time, I was exploring an entirely new city and learning something new every moment. Between attending German classes for the first time and marveling at the number and variety of museums in Berlin, I was energized by the novelty of my new surroundings.
The ebbs and flows of adjusting to studying abroad in a new environment feel more pronounced because of the realization that you’re more or less on your own. Everything is unfamiliar, including the people, and it takes a moment to transition from feeling homesick and feeling empowered to create a new support system abroad. During our pre-departure orientation hosted by the Barnard Global office, the moderators spent time discussing the culture shock we were likely to experience abroad. They displayed a ‘culture shock curve’ of which the first step is the honeymoon phase, followed by the sharp decline into culture shock, then the consequent adjustment and finally, adaptation. The time spent in each of these stages differs greatly based on factors such as comfort in the new language, familiarity with the place, if you have any friends with you, etc.
As promised, the culture shock hit almost immediately after the adrenaline rush of anticipation and traveling for so long. The first two weeks reminded me a lot of the NSOP-era of my Barnard career, filled with meeting lots of new people for the first time all while trying to gain my footing in a new universe. My romanticized view of the city was quickly met with a wake-up call back to reality. The city wasn’t as diverse as I had expected, the sun was barely around for long enough to soak it up, and I was feeling a lot more homesick than I thought I would. Approaching the adjustment stage of culture shock took a lot of energy reminding myself that the beginning of any transition is hard, and pushing myself further out of my comfort zone.
Slowly but surely, I began building a new daily routine and rhythm to my life in Berlin. I started having tea times with new friends and bonding over the wacky yet exciting adventure we had just all embarked on. By the time classes started after our two-week orientation, I was excited to get back in the classroom and begin learning again. I started learning German here for the first time and it has been a challenge to say the least. When I started forming closer connections with my new friends, everything started to feel less daunting.
Once I reached the adaptation stage, I was feeling confident and ready to make Berlin feel more like a home. Reaching out to friends from Barnard has been such a wonderful support system to lean into, even so far away from campus. Planning catch ups with familiar faces, taking time to ground myself in ways that feel comforting, and giving myself grace while I explore this new environment has made the transition and experience so much more fruitful. While the culture shock curve can feel daunting, the comfort and confidence on the other side of the rollercoaster has felt so rewarding!
Tschüs!
-Defne